Italians Really Know How To Stick It To A Disgraced Bank Executive

No one’s slashed former Banca Popolare di Vicenza executive chairman Gianni Zonin’s Vespa tires or put a horse’s head in his bed or (to the best of our knowledge) said an unkind word about his mother. But even foregoing those common weapons in the vendetta arsenal, the Italians have ways to hurt a guy they blame for running their bank into the ground.

Mr. Zonin, a 78-year-old wine producer, has gone from respected leader to pariah, banned from a half-dozen restaurants and heckled at his church, residents say.

“If I see Mr. Zonin on the street, I take a side street,” said Luigi Ugone, a bank shareholder who was recently part of a protest against the bank in the center of Vicenza. “I don’t even want to see him.”